The hosts of “Morning Joe” cracked up on Friday, laughing at President Donald Trump’s willingness to throw his attorney general nominee “overboard” once two Republicans said they refused to sign off.
Formerly Trump’s personal lawyer, Todd Blanche has been serving as the acting attorney general since Pam Bondi left the office. There was a willingness to approve Blanche among Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, but one sticking point remained: a nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund dreamed up by the president.
On Thursday, two U.S. Senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee said that someone at the White House is stopping Blanche from agreeing to putting the cancellation of the fund in writing.
The terms Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) wants guarantee that the fund will not be started. A federal judge requested a signed agreement in court, and Blanche refused twice to sign such a pledge. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) is also bothered by the idea that Trump and his family would be above the law, due to a provision in the contract saying that neither he nor his children could ever be audited by the IRS “forever.”
“Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski read the news about the IRS ban on audits as Joe Scarborough cracked up laughing.
“Donald Trump is saying, ‘I will throw my attorney general nominee overboard if my family and I can’t get immunity from the IRS,’ the likes of which nobody else in America has,” said Scarborough. “So, what he’s saying is we want to live — the Trump family wants to live by separate rules regarding the IRS than any other family in America, any other family on the planet. And he’s willing to not have an attorney general, to do that. I mean, this is something.”
He added that the matter isn’t only unpopular with Democrats, but with Republicans too.
Reporter Jonathan Lemire said it’s the issue that lawmakers are angrier about than the fund. Trump, he said, “made clear what his priorities are. He prioritizes the fund and the IRS protections over installing Todd Blanche as permanent attorney general.”
Blanche could remain in his acting role indefinitely, as he was already approved by the U.S. Senate as the deputy attorney general. As Trump discovered in his first term, having “actings” in the top spots gives him more freedom to hire and fire as he sees fit. There have not been serious consequences to Trump’s use of “acting” secretaries in the first or second terms.
Lemire noted that Trump’s solution to the matter was to simply say he’d reappoint Blanche after Cornyn and Tillis are gone.
“But problem with that plan, of course, is we have no idea what the Senate’s going to look like come January,” he explained. “The Republicans may have a smaller margin or perhaps be in the minority.”
Cornyn also made it clear on X Thursday that he and Tillis are not the only two who have issues with Blanche over the contract between Trump and the government.
Calling it “self-dealing” and “corruption,” Scarborough said he’s “never seen anything like it in my life. This is one politician saying, “My family and I are going to get protected status, are going to get immunity from IRS audits now and in the future.”
Axios reporter Marc Caputo said that both the Senate and White House realize they have “a broken relationship.” Trump grows increasingly angry because the Senate won’t do what he demands over the SAVE America Act, the filibuster and other matters.